Genocides are top-down state-organized affairs, not spontaneous outbreaks

Evidence

Commitment to a scapegoat ideology (G) mediates the negative consequences of scapegoating. Although already resented due to prior envious stereotypes, hostility toward scapegoated groups (H) increases in direct proportion to prejudiced perceivers’ endorsement of an ideology that blames them for current shared misfortunes. Such ideologies (and increased hostility) cohere around political movements that act against the scapegoated group (I). Genocides, for example, are not spontaneous events, but top-down affairs, organized and ordered by a state. The perpetrators may be a mixture of ideologically-motivated true-believers (Goldhagen, 1997) and those who merely follow orders (Milgram, 1974). These motivations, however, may typically act in concert to produce a willing obedience to authority in which perpetrators’ acceptance of a scapegoat ideology and commitment to a political movement motivates zealous compliance with orders (and, for some, spontaneous sadistic acts that exceed those orders). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1606 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Holocaust death rates tracked Nazi control, not local antisemitism levels. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 512; Genocide always requires organized state or militia planning; Genocide is always deliberately organized rather than spontaneous — Gregory H. Stanton, Ten Stages of Genocide, 4 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Genocide is a top-down state-organized process, not a spontaneous outburst. #expands (0.98) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1606
• Genocides are top-down state projects fusing ideology with obedient compliance. #corroborates (0.95)